COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Fullerton Shuts Down Crayton, Beats Rancho Santiago

Tailback Coy Collins rushed for 101 yards and quarterback Eric Robinson added 103 as Fullerton College defeated Rancho Santiago, 44-22, in a Mission Conference Central Division game Saturday at Fullerton District Stadium.

Rancho Santiago’s Estrus Crayton, Orange County’s leading rusher, struggled against a charged-up Fullerton defense. He finished with a career-low 29 yards in 20 carries and is one yard short of 1,000 for the season. He had two yards in 10 carries at the half and five in 14 carries after three quarters. His longest run was for seven yards.

“We watched a lot of film and really tried to study their (Rancho Santiago’s) tendencies with him,” Fullerton defensive coordinator Jeff Jespersen said. “Teams either overplayed him and they killed them with someone else or underplayed him and he killed them. We tried to stay balanced and it worked.”

About the only positive for Crayton was his one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that set the Mission Conference record at 21. He also had a two-point conversion run to up his single-season scoring record to 130 points.

Rancho Santiago (5-4, 2-2 in the division) led, 6-3, in the first quarter but Collins took a punt back 53 yards to give Fullerton a 10-6 lead with six minutes left in the first half.

Robinson added a 44-yard scoring run around right end to put Fullerton (7-2, 2-2) up 17-6. Rancho Santiago then came back with a 35-yard scoring pass from Richard Fanti to Robert Prochnow with 1:10 to play in the half to cut the lead to 17-14.

But Fullerton, which had 462 yards rushing and 512 in total offense, scored three third-quarter touchdowns to put the game away.

Collins scored on a five-yard blast to give Fullerton a 24-14 lead. Brian Williams, who had 87 yards in 15 carries, scored on a five-yard run with 35 seconds left in the quarter and Fullerton led, 31-14.

Rancho Santiago fumbled the kickoff and Robinson completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Green with 23 seconds left and Fullerton led, 37-14.

Robinson capped the scoring with an eight-yard scramble for a touchdown.

The victory gives Fullerton a 32-31 lead in the series. Fullerton Coach Hal Sherbeck leads Rancho Santiago’s Dave Ogas, 5-4, in the past nine years.